What Is It Truly Like To Launch A Startup In France ?

Right of the bat I can tell you one thing, having lived in Canada, the US, traveled the world and being in touch with hundreds of startupers from around the world:

There is no other country that supports its entrepreneurs as much as France does

From the moment you look into creating a startup, you can get grants, tax cuts, 0% loans and more without losing one bit of equity. The obvious partner of the wannabe startuper in France is the government backed BPI France. This unique organization’s only purpose is to support entrepreneurs and they offer a ton of services such as insurances for prospecting abroad or R&D, loans, grants, innovation contests & awards with money prizes, equity investment (up to tens of millions of euros) and much more.

Just so you understand how BIG BPI France is, the organization has invested over 17.5B$ in French companies in 2018

The you can turn your interest to Entrepreneurs association such as Réseau Entreprendre or Wilco. They offer 0% loans as well as mentoring and access to their huge networks of mentors, former laureate and entrepreneurs.

Finally, you may want to join one of the many incubators, the most famous being also the largest in the world with @StationF.

France in general and Paris in particular have become one of the hottest place on earth for Startups

You can of course find plenty ofbusiness angels associations as well as tons of VC firms that will allow you to go from seed to capital development investments with now plenty of European and US firms investing upwards of 100M€, sometimes along with BPI France.

This is for the good part and believe me it is good. But there are plenty of dark parts as well, especially if you’re not familiar with French and European business culture.

1. I hope you like paperwork

France is very well known for its LOVE of administration and paperwork. The successive governments have worked to digitize as much as they can but still, if you’re coming from the US, you better be psychologically prepared. Once you’ve got the experience and the network, you may subcontract most of the hassle to your accountant or lawyer… but when you start with little means and little cash, the administrative part can put a strain on your first year. Not taking care of it from the start will cost you dearly in the long run.

So yes, there are a lot of help and grants and cash to be grabbed in France to start your company but its drawback are the 186 forms you’ll have to fill to get it

2. I hope you like regulation and norms

France is the worldwide champion in norms and regulation. There are about 400,000 of them and you’ll need to pay to know about it. Yes, all norms and regulation are managed under a goverment backed institution called AFNOR and the rule of the law, the texts themselves are… not free. On top of which AFNOR does not bring any kind of advice, when asked about the norms that apply to your business, they will only send you back to their website and you’ll be left wondering an endless list of laws trying to ascertain which ones apply. Good luck with that. In the end, you may turn to an expert in your field to really understand how to simply get in business without breaking the law.

Oh and by the way, if you call the DGCCRF (the norms and regulation enforcment agency, they’ll politely let you know that they only intervene in répression ?? THANKS !

3. I hope you like old people in suits

Contrary to the US where succesful people come from all walks of life, France and Europe and governed by old baby boomers in suits. On top of that, they like it at the top and they’re not looking to retire anytime soon. So when meeting with bankers, investors, high ranking government agents… you will often be looking at someone who’s idea of startup and innovation stopped at the door when you came in with your Star Wars T-shirt and your crazy idea of uberizing the banking industry. How presomptuous of you ! Oh yes and they’re not crazy about young people too. Now that I think of it, they don’t think much of women, blacks (and other ethnicities) and young people as a whole. Live with it !

4. I hope you like taxes

You knew it was coming… Yes we do like our taxes. But we do like our social security also. Let’s put it this way, the taxes are not so much the issue, the problem is more on who pays taxes and how much of it. Let’s say that the system is designed for maximum social protection which is good, but like so many other places on earth, its mostly our companies with between 3 and 500 employees that are going to be most burden by it. Above and beyond, the impact of taxes on the business, with the help of the nice legal montages that can be ? invented ? by lawyers, you can cope with.

The grass is always greener on the other side, in France the grass is always a greenish-yellow

And that’s a good thing. Unlike in the US where the culture of performance is imprinted from a very young age, starting a business in France is, to me, mostly about the culture. If you ever start a company in France, consider having employees taking one hour or two hours lunch breaks. Preposterous ? Well… Wait until you try our food.

And that is the paradoxe of France, it is a very cultural place where doing business is part of a social contract inherited from hundreds of years of culture and political struggle. It is as beautiful as it is uggly but… it makes sense.

In France, you can’t just make a million dollars ; you’ll have to pay for it so someone else may live a decent life

It’s social contract. If you choose to accept it, know that the system may self destruct in the next 5 seconds but that IF it does, in the end, you’ll always find someone to share a nice glass of Chardonnay, sit on a bench and watch the sunset… But most of all, you’ll always get a second chance.